Metro Woman Accused Of Notarizing Documents Under Suspended License

 A metro woman is accused of notarizing documents under a suspended license and not following the rules as a notary. One man says his brother’s divorce is in question and wants to warn others.

Ewing Ross said when he noticed his brother’s signature was forged on the divorce papers, it prompted him to investigate the notary who is supposed to verify those signatures.

“Found out her notary had been revoked in 2019,” Ross said.

When you drive by the notary’s home in southeast Oklahoma City, you can see she has quite the setup, notarizing documents from her kitchen window.

“She had a big old notary sign in her window,” Ross said. 

In Oklahoma, a notary’s commission is good for four years. The state requires a notary to purchase a $1,000 surety bond. However, the woman didn’t have a bond on file in 2020 when she notarized the divorce papers for Ewing’s brother and in fact, was revoked.

“You can't trust people,” he said. “I mean you take an oath is what I thought whenever you become a notary.”

We checked on the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s website, and the woman is now an active notary.

“She says people come all day long,” Ewing said. 

Because for $5, he said she’ll notarize your documents, and for Ewing, that’s what she did. He and his mother took a document with fake names on it to see what she would do. He said even though her notary commission certificate is active, she failed to verify the signatures with a photo ID.

“Why would you not ask for ID,” he said. “That's what a notary is supposed to do to prove who you are.” 

Now he wonders how many other people are in his brother’s shoes.

“Who knows what's been notarized over the past years, that she might have caused problems now,” he said.

Ewing said he filed a police report and is waiting to hear back on the status of his brother’s case.

If you suspect any wrongdoing or mistakes by a notary public, it should be reported to the local police department and/or the district attorney’s office. The Oklahoma Secretary of State is not an enforcement agency and does not employ legal counsel, it cannot accept reports of misconduct. When a final judgment from an Oklahoma district court is rendered against a notary public for performing a false or fraudulent notarial act, the Secretary of State can then revoke the notary public’s appointment.